Milk for Sailor

“Sailor Avonlea was born via emergency c-section on June 13th in Las Vegas, addicted to and withdrawing from the effects of a pregnancy filled with heavy methenphetamine use, homelessness, and mental illness. After a 13 day long fight between the hospital at which she was delivered, Child Protective Services, and a large team of adoption professionals and lawyers, we were finally granted the right to adopt her and bring her home to California! We are the adoptive parents of her 18 month old full biological sibling, Lachlan, who was also born addicted to and withdrawing from meth, and while we were not anticipating adoption again so soon, when the opportunity was placed in our laps, we could not say no to another little love who would otherwise be lost to the foster system.

We have two older biological daughters whom I breastfed well into their first year; I was actually such an overproducer that I ended up donating several thousand ounces of breastmilk to a local milk bank over a period of several years. When we decided to adopt initially, I knew immediately that I wanted to feed our new baby with donor milk, as I fully believe in its amazing powers to heal the damage inflicted on a newborns tiny body and brain. When I initially approached the milk bank that I had so lovingly handed thousands of ounces of breastmilk to years prior, I found out quickly that I’d have to be made of money in order to afford their “non profit” price of $3 an ounce for breastmilk! Not satisfied with this answer, I turned to the internet, and quickly found “Human Milk 4 Human Babies” as well as “Eats and Feets.” Through both of these peer to peer sharing forums, we were able to provide breastmilk to our son for 13 months! Despite being born a drug addicted baby, he is now 100% free of health issues and is developmentally completely typical, things that I believe the power of breastmilk has made possible.

We hope to provide these benefits for our Sailor as well, especially given the abuse she suffered at the hands of so called medical professionals; for the first fourteen days of her life, she was fed formula, left in a plastic bassinet, and only held every 3 hours to be fed and changed. If she cried for milk before those 3 hours were up, she was left to cry, alone and hungry until her scheduled feeding time came along. No one was allowed to see her or even touch her for 14 days, and when she finally was allowed to leave the hospital, she weighed a full pound less than when she was born. Our sweet girl has had a very hard time transitioning due to her drug dependency, but she IS gaining weight quickly and eating like a champ on all the milk donated by friends. Our freezer supply is quickly diminishing however, and we are feeling desperate to provide her with the nourishment she needs to heal and grow. We have witnessed firsthand the power of breastmilk to heal the damage that drug addiction, lack of prenatal care, and dangerous maternal behavior can have on a baby, and we desperately want our daughter to be the recipient of as much of this liquid life that she can.”

– Robert and Kirstinpaxbaby

Please consider milk sharing with Sailor in any way possible! Her family lives in the Bay area but has set up milk drop off points in Southern California as well! Email Kirstin to set up a donation at milkforsailor@icloud.com, and thank you for keeping this amazing family in your prayers! Much love from the PAXmommies <3paxbaby*happy babywearing*paxbaby